This is the first fanfic I'm posting to the FFML, so you've all been
warned...
Disclaimer time:
Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty and Viz Communications own Ranma
1/2. Kosuke Fujishima, Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus own Ah! My
Goddess (or Oh My Goddess!, whatever).
I'd like to also thank all my pre-readers, as without them you'd be
stuck with the version they had to put up with. ^_^
Dave Menard <deibu_kun@sympatico.ca>
Gary Kleppe <kleppe@mediaone.net>
GunKnight <GunKnight@home.com>
Jay La Valley <acidjack@bangornews.infi.net>
Jeremy H. Fogelman <jemhf@wam.umd.edu>
Paul Steele <paul_h_steele@yahoo.com>
Slyke <morsamare@earthlink.net>
Thomas Hackwood <thackwood@mindspring.com>
Thanks for reading and, hopefully, I'll be able to send the next
chapters every two-three weeks. Private and public C&C would be most
welcome, of course. Oh, and please ask me if you want to post it
somewhere.
Corwin (ely7@inter.net.il)
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: wog-ch1-ffml.txt
Wrath of Gods
Prologue
The fight with Saffron had taken a lot out of Ranma. Never before in his
seventeen years of life had he been forced to improvise so much, and it
wasn't an experience he was willing to repeat in the near future. Of
course, the fight itself had been nothing like his normal ones.
It started out pretty much like every other fight. Some magical prince
from afar sent his minions to retrieve an artifact which,
unsurprisingly, got into Ranma's hands. Even Akane's kidnapping wasn't
really outstanding. However, appearances could be deceiving.
The prince turned out to be an immortal Phoenix, a virtual half-god, and
wielding power unparalleled by human standards. And the stakes... the
stakes turned out to be much higher than anyone has ever imagined.
Shampoo and Genma's freedom, Jusenkyo and everyone's cure... and Akane's
life. Akane would die without Jusenkyo's water, and the only thing
standing between Ranma and the Source was Saffron.
So he had to go down, and down he went. The battle had forced Ranma to
dip into reserves of power, reserves he hadn't known he possessed,
allowing him to snuff out the godling with a variation of the Hiryu
Shoten Ha. In the end, he'd won. After all, the great Ranma Saotome
never loses, not when it really counts. Akane had been saved, Saffron
was reborn as a baby, and things seemed to return to normal. Jusenkyo
had been flooded, so no more cures were available. Status quo had been
conserved, at least on the surface. There'd been an attempt at a
wedding, a wedding destroyed by all he had once considered friends. In
the aftermath, Ranma and Akane remained single, and the cure for the
Jusenkyo curses was forever lost. And so, life in Nerima was back on
track...
*****
Ranma was walking beside Akane to school, both of them holding hands.
Suddenly, she stopped, breaking his train of thought.
"Is there anything wrong, Akane?" he asked her absent-mindedly.
"That's a question I should ask you, Ranma!" Akane told him, shaking a
finger in his direction accusingly. "You've been silent and distant ever
since you came to yesterday."
"It's nothin'. I just have a lot on my mind. All those people... how
could they do this to me? How could they betray my friendships like
that?" Ranma replied, turning his head away from her.
"Don't give me that, Ranma! You can rant about how 'betrayed' you feel,
but I know better. Your so-called friends acted exactly how you knew
they would." Akane took her fiance's face in her hands and turned it to
look directly into her eyes. "Now, how about sharing the real reason
behind your mood with me?"
"Heh. After all we've been through lately, I guess I shouldn't be
surprised that you caught on, huh? 'Course, you've been about the only
person without some kinda 'hidden agenda' payin' any attention to me
lately, right?" Ranma said, managing a small smile.
"Quit stalling, Ranma. I can help. I just know it. Let me help you, just
like you did for me," Akane pleaded, with genuine concern in her voice.
Waiting vainly a few moments for a response, she thought angrily: 'Why
does he always have to push me away?!'
Finally, Ranma sighed and threw his hands in the air.
"Fine! You win, okay?" Ranma took a deep breath and collected his
thoughts. "It all started back at Jusendo, near the end o' my fight with
Saffron. D'you remember any of it?"
Akane shuddered, and nodded to him.
"Saffron... was real different from anybody I ever fought before,
y'know? Herb was nothin' compared to him, an' Ryoga's 'Ultimate Shi Shi
Hokodan' would'a been a joke... Thing is, while I was fightin', I had
the weirdest feelin'... like I'd done all this before..."
"You mean, like deja-vu?" Akane asked.
"Yeah, that's it. An' when I... killed him... and he came back as a kid,
I wasn't even surprised! It was like I knew he'd do that. Doesn't that
seem weird to you?"
"Well, he was half-god, after all," Akane replied in an unsure voice.
'Well, kind of,' she amended mentally.
"Fine. And how many gods have we met before?" Ranma countered, sparing
her a glance before looking away.
"..."
"I thought so. But that's not all. Later, when I was holdin' you in my
arms, an' I thought you were dead... It's like a part of me was gone as
well. And then... then I felt somethin' between us, a link or something,
tied to the core of our very existence. Tell me, Akane, did'ya feel it
too?"
His fiancee fidgeted a bit before answering, her leg shuffling on the
pavement.
"Um, well, I don't know. Sort of."
"Good enough. But the fight at the wedding was the final straw."
"Ranma, you aren't going to run away, are you?" Akane asked, horrified.
"No, nothing like that," Ranma chuckled, before turning serious all of a
sudden and continuing. "But that was when I was knocked out and had the
dream."
"The dream?"
"Dream, vision, call it whatever you like. I saw myself in there, but I
wasn't Ranma Saotome."
"But that's silly. Who else could you be?"
"I don't know. In the dream I was just 'Ranma', and there was some kind
of battle. And I know this ain't making much sense to ya, but the
outcome was really important, see? Something about the fates of
billions, and it all had something to do with me... But just as I was
sortin' the whole thing out, I woke up, an' all I can remember now are
fragments."
"One more thing, Akane. You were there as well." Ranma ignored Akane's
gasp, and went on with his description. "You weren't yourself either.
But I knew that it was you, because I felt that same connection to you
in the dream."
"Ranma, what else do you remember from that dream of yours? Places,
people, even clothing..."
"Wait! I remember what I was wearing... it was my favorite outfit, only
completely in black, even with the matching bracers and all. In fact,
the only thing that stood out was a small imprint of a Pegasus..."
"...on the left side of your chest, red blood and looking so much alive
that you can almost touch it?" Akane completed the sentence for him.
"How did you..."
"Ranma... I need to use the phone!"
Without waiting for an answer Akane ran across the street towards the
direction of the nearest pay-phone, all the while trying to make sense
in all the images that flooded her mind once she heard Ranma describe
his outfit from the dream.
It was weird to have her mind invaded by memories that were alien, and
yet they felt so right being there. Akane tried collecting her willpower
to stop the images from coming, but all her efforts were useless against
the onslaught.
'Something from the description of Ranma's dream... must have been
what's causing all of this!' Akane realized suddenly.
One memory stood in front of the others. A simple phone number, one she
knew well, despite seeing it in her mind for the first time only seconds
ago. It was also what had caused her to run looking for the closest
phone in the middle of her conversation with Ranma.
'If I'm right, then that must be the key for all this,' she reasoned
with herself, focusing her mind on what she believed to be the solution
to her problem. It was the best way she could think of to guard off her
fears of being assaulted the way she was. 'And since dialing it appears
to be the only way to find out what's going on...'
Akane finally reached the payphone, paid for the call and dialed the
incredibly long number. After a couple of rings, the phone on the other
side was answered, and Akane looked hopefully at Ranma, who had reached
her side by then. That look turned to wonder once she heard the greeting
on the other side.
"Hello, you have reached the Goddess Help Line..."
Chapter 1
Urd was bored. Actually, bored didn't even begin to describe the
excitement of filling in at the Goddess Relief Office. Ranting about it
didn't help, unfortunately, but she'd been doing it the better part of
the day anyway and wasn't going to stop. 'Where is the fun in that?' she
reasoned with herself, before trying to come up with new and exciting
ways to execute her revenge against the sneaky bureaucrats that roped
her into this.
The annoying ringing of the phone shook the Goddess of Love out of her
reverie. Oh, well, it was time to work.
"Hello, you have reached the Goddess Help Line. A representative will be
with you shortly."
'Great, a client. I wonder who is it this time. Well, only one way to
find out..."
And with that thought, Urd disappeared through a strategically located
television set. Of course, there were always other ways of learning
about the people who made the call, the Yggdrasil directory being one of
them, but Urd was always one for the direct approach.
* * *
"What was all that about?"
"You got me there, Ranma," Akane replied to him. "I just had this
flashback, and the number I dialed was there. I just had to try it."
"Well, who answered you?"
"That's the weirdest part of it all. They called themselves the 'Goddess
Relief Office' Can you believe that?"
Pointing a somewhat shaky finger at an electronics shop a few meters
away from them, Ranma replied: "Actually, I'm willing to believe
anything at this point."
Akane followed Ranma's gaze and saw a scantily clad woman in her mid
twenties climb out of a television. The woman's flowing white hair
accentuated her tanned body, which was curved in all the right places.
"Another one of your girlfriends?" Akane growled at Ranma, trying very
hard not to show any signs of jealousy towards the newcomer's physique
and failing miserably.
"No, no, it's nothing like... oh, hell," Ranma replied dejectedly, his
shoulders slumping. The sad thing was that with his luck, she probably
was another fiancee.
The strange woman approached the pair by that time, and decided to jump
right into their discussion, her green eyes sparkling with excitement as
she regarded the pair, her eyes staying on Ranma more than Akane would
have liked.
"Hi, there. Let me introduce myself. Norn of the Past and the Cupid of
Love, but you may call me Urd."
Akane looked thoroughly at the card the woman gave her, before handing
it to Ranma.
"A goddess with a business card?"
Urd turned towards Akane, and shrugged.
"We hear it all the time. Now, there are a few things you need to know,
like the reason I came here. I can grant you one wish, and one wish
only. I am also allowed to read your thoughts during the transaction."
'I wonder why?' Akane thought, before realizing that it was just as
discreet as yelling it on the top of her lungs. The whole situation
seemed surreal to her, with the enigmatic visions, newly discovered
memories and goddesses coming out of television sets.
"My guess is as good as yours. It is probably to make sure that your
wish would come from the heart. They are usually the best kind," the
goddess replied nonchalantly.
'Show off,' Akane snorted mentally.
Urd smirked, and turned to look at Ranma for the first time. A cute guy,
no doubt about it. Under different circumstances, she might have even
made a pass at him but, unfortunately, work came first. And she was on
probation as it was.
"Um, excuse me... Urd, isn't it?" Akane asked tentatively.
"Yes?" the goddess replied, doing her best to appear interested.
"I just realized something. Did you say you were here to grant me a
wish?" Akane inquired, wringing her fingers.
"Like I said, you get one wish and that's it, so if I were you, I'd
think carefully before asking for something," Urd answered the question.
When Akane became quiet and started pondering on her upcoming wish,
finally having realized the situation she was in, the Norn goddess gave
their companion another appreciative glance. Yes, it was indeed most
unfortunate that she was occupied at the moment. Maybe she should ask
the girl for his address and visit him later. Hacking the Yggdrasil for
personal info seemed like overkill, considering that this Akane probably
knew him.
'Hmm, this guy does look kind of familiar. Maybe it's that pigtail of
his. But the clothes seem all wrong...'
Urd narrowed her eyes and regarded the pigtailed youth. Now she was sure
she had seen him somewhere before. A picture of the teenager, clad in
black, flashed before her mind's eye, too fast to be perceived properly.
Urd wasn't even sure whether it was her own memory, or one of the stray
thoughts from her mental link with Akane.
"I... I know what I want to wish for," Akane said shakily. Having so
much power at her command was intoxicating, and quite frightening. When
the goddess had mentioned the destruction of the world, Akane had
thought that she was joking. But whether that was true or not, the
impression that statement had made on Akane had been profound. Gathering
her thoughts, Akane stated: "Lately... well, you see, we've been having
these strange visions, and... I really wish for all of us to know what
they mean."
The Goddess of Love was so preoccupied, that she almost missed Akane's
wish. It wasn't one of those materialistic ones, nor did she ask to
destroy the world, for which Urd was extremely grateful. Although
Yggdrasil was supposed to screen the wrong type of people out, accidents
did happen from time to time.
Saying, "wish granted," Urd started to float, a beam of light shooting
from the markings on her forehead heavenwards.
While she was floating and the wish was going through the proper
channels, Urd thought about it and smiled inwardly. The girl's wish was
a simple request of information. Well, she certainly came to the right
place, for there was no bigger source of information than the Yggdrasil
directory.
Suddenly, the two teenagers started to glow as well. Ranma's clothes
shimmered, and became identical to the black outfit he wore in his
dream. Akane grew black, bat-like wings and donned black, tight-fitting
body armor, her presence becoming obscured by shadows.
Surprised, Urd stared wide-eyed at the two when, suddenly, it hit her.
The guy's name was Ranma! She absentmindedly wondered how come she
didn't find that out before granting the wish, but now it was too late
for this kind of thoughts.
With a cry, Urd broke her uplink to the Yggdrasil mainframe prematurely,
dropping to the ground. The light disappeared instantly, and the glow
around her companions faded away, the wish not fulfilled in its
entirety. Boring into Ranma with hate-filled eyes, she growled.
"You!"
Without further delay, she charged him, lightning blazing. Ranma, who
was immensely tired from the recent experience, escaped the attack
unharmed only due to his superior martial arts training. While he dived
to the side, Akane blasted Urd with a bolt of swirling darkness. The
goddess hit the building she was flung at head on, creating an impact
crater of an impressive size, with a thin cobweb of cracks spreading
across the wall, before slumping to the ground in a heap.
Urd watched Akane advance on her position slowly, visibly charging up
for another shot, when a hand landed on her shoulder. Akane stopped, and
looked at the person who touched her. Seeing Ranma, she gazed
questioningly between him and the crumpled form of Urd, before setting
her eyes on his face patiently, as if awaiting his instructions.
"No, I won't kill anyone," Urd could hear him say.
Akane's eyes, completely black and without pupils, betrayed no emotion.
After a moment, she told him that leaving a goddess aware of their
existence alive was a mistake. Urd noticed that her voice has changed,
and was different somehow, more guttural and inhuman, strangely
befitting her current form in some way.
Ranma sighed, and bowed his head.
"The last seventeen years had quite an impact on me, Akane, and I know
you haven't escaped this experience unharmed yourself. We are not the
same as before, and we will kill only as a last resort, in self defense,
but certainly not someone who is down already."
During the last part Ranma leveled his gaze onto Akane's eyes.
Apparently, this little gesture did the trick, as Akane's visage changed
before Urd's eyes. Akane blinked, and looked questioningly at Ranma and
Urd, visibly confused. Her brown pupils were back once again, and stared
innocently at the scene before her. Bat wings retreated into her back,
and the whole aura of 'wrongness' around the girl dissipated into
nothing. Akane was back.
"Ranma, I... I don't know what came over me. Thank you," she softly
said, hugging him.
The evil that controlled her actions was gone, but the damage has been
done. Akane was terrified of what almost happened, of what she would
have done if not for Ranma. And the thing that frightened her most was
that she was doing it all for him. That goddess wanted to hurt him, and
Akane acted purely on reflex, with only one thought running through her
mind - protecting and defending Ranma, guarding him no matter the cost.
"That's ok, Akane. We'll go through this like we always have in the
past."
Urd managed to recover somewhat during this exchange, and decided to
make a run for it while Ranma and Akane were distracted. She charged a
lightning bolt and threw it towards them, while running back to the
electronics shop that she emerged from.
Ranma, his danger sense kicking in, pushed Akane out of the way, and
took to the sky. As he floated several meters above the ground, Ranma
watched Urd make her getaway, not even trying to go after her. Once the
goddess was gone, he touched down on solid ground once more, and helped
Akane to her feet.
"Come on, let's get out of here, before she comes back with
reinforcements."
Having said that, Ranma left the area, with Akane by his side.
*****
"So, Akane, do you feel any different?"
"I guess so. It feels like I have a volcano about to erupt inside of
me..."
"Your whole body is on fire, and the heat is so intense that you can
almost feel your bones melting. You have to stay alert at all times,
because a lapse in control, even for a fraction of a second, might
unleash all that power into the world." Ranma spared a glance at Akane,
and asked: "Am I close?"
"You too, huh?"
"Yep, multiplied tenfold."
"You don't say?"
"Well, it figures, Akane. I'm supposed to be this spawn of evil, so vile
that a goddess second class would charge recklessly on her own."
"Goddess second class? What does that mean?"
"How should I know that?! It just popped into my mind, that's all."
Akane thought about it for a moment, before realizing that what Ranma
said was true. After their encounter with Urd, more memories have been
unlocked.
"I've been wondering," she said, more to herself than to her companion,
"what we are... or were."
"That Urd character was a goddess, right? The opposite to god is a
demon, so that would be my guess."
"Unless you are the big man himself," Akane half-joked.
"What? The Devil himself? Nah, I doubt it. Although, judging by the
expression on her face, I'm probably up there with the big guys."
Ranma chuckled at his attempt at a joke, trying to lighten the mood a
bit.
"Shouldn't it be 'down there' instead, anyway?" Akane replied. She would
be damned if Ranma got all the fun (and the really awful puns).
"Ugh, hell. And it's probably hot and everything down there. How can
people stand that stuff?"
"Well, technically, they wouldn't be people, but rather souls, and
demons and all sorts of mystical creatures we would never have believed
existed until this day."
"Right."
Ranma sighed, and continued to walk towards Dr. Tofu's clinic.
Currently, there were only three people who might help them, but
Happosai, and especially Cologne, couldn't be trusted to genuinely help
them without some hidden agenda, which left good old doc Tofu as their
last resort. Before the discussion could be continued, an outraged cry
of 'Ranma! Prepare to Die!' abruptly ended it.
* * *
Ryoga didn't know where he was, which upon itself wasn't that unusual.
And, of course, it was all Ranma's fault. Why, if that bastard wouldn't
have tried to get married to Akane, Ryoga wouldn't have come to crash
the wedding, and wouldn't subsequently get lost trying to get back to
Akari. Oh was it all because of the man-to-man fight that Ranma skipped
out on? Ryoga's head hurt thinking about it, so he opted to just accept
the general concept that everything was always Ranma's fault, which made
life incredibly easy. Well, as easy as life could be with two curses and
a mortal enemy...
And then, the gods must have smiled on him, because his most hated
enemy, the bane of his very existence, Ranma Saotome, was just across
the street, walking with Akane. Wait, make that walking hand-to-hand
with Akane! The bastard must have forced himself upon her! And what was
she wearing?! How dares he take advantage of her sweetness to make her
dress that way?! Now, not only would he kill Ranma, but also save Akane
from his clutches, who surely would be grateful to him...
The only things keeping his nosebleed in check being an extensive lack
of sleep and the lousy mood he was in, both caused by the bad week he
was having, Ryoga grabbed his bamboo umbrella and charged his arch-
nemesis, crying out: "Ranma! Prepare to Die!"
* * *
The moment she heard those words, Akane's eyes became as black as night.
Instead of jumping away she moved directly into the path of Ryoga's
descending umbrella. Even before the poor guy could see that he put the
source of his obsession in danger, Akane's hand shot up, with the palm
pointed towards the tip of the umbrella. A dark whirlpool formed in the
space between them, and the umbrella shuddered violently, before
crumbling into dust. The backlash of the strike caused Ryoga to fly
backwards, while Akane's heels dug a few centimeters into the pavement.
Even Ranma, who has landed a few meters away in a ready stance, felt a
shockwave going through the air.
Ryoga slowly rose to his feet, and looked at Akane in disbelief. What he
saw looking back at him frightened him to no end. While he was still
stunned, Akane close the distance between them with one leap, and picked
Ryoga by the collar of his shirt with one hand.
"Stay away from Ranma," she growled in a low, menacing tone, pronouncing
every syllable, before throwing the lost boy down the street.
Ryoga landed in a heap, and didn't get up. The shock from the recent
events has taken its toll, and he lost consciousness, which considering
his options was probably the best course of action for him. The last
thing he saw was Ranma racing towards him...
Ranma was worried. That was the second time his friend has lost control
like that, but this time their opponent has been a mortal. Even though
the Bakusai Tenketsu training gave Ryoga increased durability and
strength, it was also probably the only thing that prevented him from
any serious injuries, other than a few bruises.
Standing away from Ryoga's body after finishing his examination, Ranma
contemplated their options. They could take Ryoga along to Dr. Tofu, but
once he woke up, the lost boy would undoubtedly find some stupid reason
to try and attack them again, which could end up in a serious injury for
someone.
'And that someone would probably be Ryoga,' Ranma mused, 'if this poor
excuse for a fight is any indication.'
"Akane!"
They had to get out of here fast, but Akane made no move after throwing
Ryoga. She just stood in the same place, her eyes never leaving her
target.
"Akane! Snap out of it!"
The short-haired girl shook her head, as if fighting for control, and
when she looked at Ranma, the old Akane was back, if only slightly
disoriented.
"Ranma, what happened?"
"Later. We have to get to the doc now!"
Ranma ran to Akane and took her hand. She looked worriedly at Ryoga, who
laid sprawled on the ground away from them.
"Don't worry about pig-boy, I checked him out. He's alright, and will be
his usual obnoxious self soon."
"Ranma, you jerk! Don't pick on Ryoga!"
Akane made an attempt to hit Ranma on the back of his head, but her fist
stopped at the last possible moment. She seemed just as puzzled by that
fact as Ranma was, but didn't try to hit him again. Ranma, for his part,
was just relieved to shake Akane out of her stupor, as they had no time
to waste on useless discussions. Ignoring what had almost happened in
light of the bigger problems they had, Ranma and Akane took to the
rooftops, on their way to the clinic.
*****
"Dr. Tofu? Are you here?"
"Yeah, Doc, are ya in?"
Suddenly, a bony hand landed on Ranma's shoulder from behind. Before
anyone had a chance to breathe, he turned with inhuman speed, thrusting
his open palm directly into the creature's ribcage. Dark purple lighting
blazed around Betty-chan, promptly eradicating her from existence. A
moment later not even dust remained of the unlucky skeleton, whose only
mistake was only being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Um, yes. I've been, uhh, meaning to get a new skeleton anyway," Dr.
Tofu said with a touch of nervousness in his voice, scratching the back
of his head.
Ranma smirked, and swept his left hand to indicate Akane by his side,
while saying: "Well, you can probably guess the reason for our visit."
Akane meekly smiled at Dr. Tofu's questioning gaze, and shrugged.
"What he said."
Twenty minutes later...
"So, let me get this straight. You believe that you," Tofu pointed at
Ranma, "are some kind of powerful demon, reborn as Ranma Saotome, son to
Nodoka and Genma."
Ranma nodded.
"And you, Akane, are his, for the lack of a better word, sidekick?"
Akane scowled at first, but nodded nonetheless. Ranma at this time
decided to point out their main problem.
"But you see, doc, Akane is... unstable."
"Oh?" Dr. Tofu raised an eyebrow.
Having a practice in Nerima made him meet many things considered
mystical by regular humans, but Ranma's story was pushing it a bit. If
not for the little display earlier, he might have dismissed it all as
accumulated stress, but for now Tofu was willing to go along with it.
"Yes. Her control is slipping. It already happened twice since that
phone call."
"I... see. And do you know what triggered those events?"
Akane picked that moment to join the conversation.
"The first time was when that goddess tried to blast Ranma with some
lightning bolt."
"Yeah, and the second one was with Ryoga." Seeing Dr. Tofu's worried
expression, Ranma quickly added: "Don't worry, they're both fine. As for
pig-boy, he just shouted his usual 'Die Ranma!' or something, and Akane
met him head on. I think the shock got to him or something, and he
fainted."
"Hmm, so according to you, every time Ranma was in danger, your
'programming' kicked in?"
"Hey, I wasn't in no danger from Ryoga!" Ranma protested rather loudly.
Akane, who contemplated Tofu's theory, ignored him.
"Unfortunately, since there were only two incidents, we can't be sure
about this," she finally replied.
"How about we test this?" Ranma asked, after listening in on their
conversation. "Hey, Doc, why dont'cha call Kasumi and ask her out? I
hear she's got the hots for ya!" he said to Dr. Tofu, winking
conspiratorially.
"Ka... ka... sumi..."
"Ranma! What are you doing, you idiot?!"
"Chill, Akane. Either he was right, and we'll find out now, or he'll
snap out of it in a few minutes and we'll think of something else."
"But what if I accidentally blast him?"
"Oops."
While the above exchange of words was taking place, Tofu was dancing
with a broom he found somewhere, swinging his arms and legs around
dangerously. His erratic trajectory brought the doctor on a collision
course with the couple.
Akane suddenly clutched her head, and doubled over in pain. A deep
scarlet aura erupted around her, and she floated a few meters into the
air, bathed in it. Ranma was taken aback by this display of power, and
even Dr. Tofu was shaken out of his Kasumi-induced trance.
"Ranma... is it the way Akane acted previously?" Tofu asked with a touch
of nervousness.
"No," Ranma replied, edging towards the doctor, "the last two times it
was just raw power, completely uninhibited. This time she's in control."
A stray lightning bolt hit the examination table, leaving a large scorch
mark.
"Well, she's mostly in control," Ranma amended his earlier statement.
At that point Tofu decided to check whether Akane needed any help.
"Akane-chan, are you feeling all right?"
"I'm fine, Dr. Tofu, thank you for asking."
Akane was about to power down, when Ranma decided to take back control
over the conversation.
"Say, Akane, can you stop showing off for a moment and come down to
Earth? As in literally?"
Maybe it was the tone, or maybe it was just the force of habit, but
there was no way in hell Akane would pass it up.
"Shut up, you jerk! It was all your fault to begin with anyway!"
"Was not, you uncute tomboy!"
"Why, you..."
"Children, please!" Dr. Tofu cut in, feeling the need to stop the
argument before it went any further. With their newfound powers, Akane
and Ranma could seriously hurt someone unintentionally.
'Sorry' sounded simultaneously from both directions, and Akane
approached Dr. Tofu and Ranma, still floating. The aura flickered a few
times before being absorbed into Akane's body.
"Cool trick, Akane," Ranma commented upon seeing this.
Akane, ignoring him for the moment, touched down.
"Dr. Tofu, this time something must have triggered my memory. I remember
things more clearly than ever now."
"Ah, so that's why ya clutched your head, right?" Ranma stated the
obvious.
"How would you like to have centuries of memories downloaded into your
brain in the space of a few seconds?!" Akane retorted angrily.
"Centuries? Wow, you age really well, for a tomboy that is."
Dr. Tofu cringed and stepped back, fully expecting Akane to use his much
abused examination table on Ranma's head. However, in a rare act of
control, she managed to compose herself and decided to give Ranma one
more chance. Deliberately talking in a slow voice and pronouncing every
syllable clearly, Akane explained to Ranma that it was in his best
interest to shut up. Survival instincts kicking in at full force, he
gulped rather audibly and nodded his head in agreement.
"Now, as I was saying before being rudely interrupted," Akane continued,
shooting Ranma a withering glare, "I received memories of my past life.
Although they hardly cover even a small fraction of it, we still might
learn something useful from them."
"Alright, Akane. Tell us what you remember," Tofu urged her, smiling
reassuringly.
"Allies, enemies, battles and adventures. Power beyond belief." Akane's
gaze became distant at this point. "And I also learned of my duty, my
role in the greater scheme of things."
"Oh?" Dr. Tofu raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be, dear?"
"To guard someone. You might say I am his... guardian angel."
Tofu was puzzled by Akane's tone of voice, but Ranma replied, smirking,
without paying much attention to it.
"Angel is hardly a word to describe you, Akane."
"Shut up, you idiot! I can't believe I am your guardian!"
"Wha..."
Ranma was shocked beyond belief. He hadn't been taking her seriously up
till this point, and so wasn't prepared for this sudden revelation.
While Ranma was trying to close his mouth in vain, Dr. Tofu nodded
knowingly. Indeed, this was the last piece of the puzzle that occupied
his mind ever since Akane and Ranma have showed up at his doorstep with
their 'little problem'. The way Akane kept her anger in check, always
stopping herself from hitting Ranma, the way she converted into her
'protection' mode once he was in danger... Tofu berated himself for not
seeing this earlier.
"Let's stick to 'guardian' for now, all right?" Akane suggested
irritably, trying to steer the conversation the right way.
"But why would demons have guardians?" Dr. Tofu chose that moment to
ask.
"Gods have their guardian angels. Well, mature ones anyway," Ranma
amended himself.
"What, why are you all looking at me for?" he exclaimed, uncomfortable
under the collective gaze of Akane and Tofu. "You're not the only one
with the flashbacks and all, y'know," Ranma shot defensively at Akane.
"Yes, that sounds reasonable. Now, does anyone of you have any clues as
to why you were here in the first place?"
Ranma briefly glanced at Akane, before shrugging and uttering 'no clue'.
"Well, I think that would be enough for now. We all need some time to
think about what we have learned, and you probably could do with a rest
from all those flashbacks."
Upon receiving nods from both Ranma and Akane, Tofu Ono continued.
"So, what do you plan on doing now? Are you two going to school?"
"No, it's too dangerous. What if Ryoga picks another fight and Akane
loses control? Or if that psycho goddess shows up and starts blasting?
A lot of innocent people would get hurt... we can't afford that."
Once again, Akane chose to nod in reply.
"The Tendo Dojo is out of the question either. We have to go away for a
while, until we have more control over our powers." Ranma paused for a
few moments, his brow furrowed in thought. "Hey, Doc, could you tell old
man Tendo and Pops that we went on a training trip together?"
"Of course, Ranma. I'll stop by the Tendo Dojo and deliver your message.
But what about your rivals and, err... suitors?"
"Oh, hell, I forgot all about them. Well, we have no choice. As soon as
they hear that we left, everyone will try to follow us. We'll just have
to hope they won't find us."
Akane seemed angry at the mention of the various people after 'her'
Ranma, but upon hearing that he gave the other girls no consideration
placated her to no end. And the strangest thing to her was that she
wasn't sure who irritated her more - the people who wanted to marry
Ranma, or the ones who were trying to kill him. She had to straighten
out her feelings towards him, and this training trip was a great
opportunity for it. What was she feeling? Love? Or was it a mix of
devotion and friendship? And how could she truly find an answer to all
those questions without truly knowing who she is?
*****
Tatewaki Kuno, age eighteen, was strolling the streets of Nerima in his
righteous quest to vanquish the evil sorcerer Saotome and make him
relinquish his control over the fair Tendo Akane and the fiery pigtailed
goddess Tendo Ranko. Whenever he went, people cowered before his mighty
prowess, clearing the way for him. All around the peasants covered their
mouths in awe and lowered their voices as their unworthy eyes lay upon
him, no doubt to spare his superior intellect of their lowly chatter.
Searching for Saotome proved to be difficult, as he undoubtedly used his
unholy magic to avoid the divine judgement the scion of House Kuno was
set out to bring upon his head. Turning to go towards the school, where
the foul sorcerer would surely show up to make mockery of him with
dishonorable tactics, Kuno saw his two loves appearing from around the
corner. Both had substantial packs slung around their shoulders, which
only helped show their great strength. His very essence rejoiced, as he
found no sign of the enslaver of women in their divine presence.
Kuno's heart fluttered upon witnessing this magnificent sight, and he
decided to grant his goddesses the magnificence of his awesome presence.
And so, with a mighty war cry, he launched himself at them...
* * *
Ranma and Akane were headed to the train station, from where they would
go to Mt. Fuji. It seemed to be the perfect, nice and quiet place for
them to take back control of their lives, where they could avoid pursuit
if the need arose. Besides, their first choice, Juban, was too dangerous
for them to be in. It was too close to Nerima, and besides, there were
other... complications.
After thanking Dr. Tofu for the backpacks and the provisions he provided
them with, Ranma used a cup of cold water to trigger his transformation,
not forgetting to pack a thermos with hot water. It was decided
unanimously that since his curse had been picked up in the past year,
and not in what they called their 'past life', the change might throw
the goddesses off track. It was worth a try anyway. But since his male
side had other advantages, and hot water was hard to produce on demand,
the thermos was a backup in case something goes wrong. Everyone hoped
things wouldn't come to that, however.
And as it happened to be, Ranma-chan and Akane were just discussing the
effectiveness of their disguise, which in Akane's case consisted of a
large scarlet cloak she produced out of thin air, that covered her
entire body. Suddenly, a deranged cry, which could have only come from
one individual, registered on their senses. Both shuddered at the
mention of 'his loves', and Akane powered up to kick the nuisance into
what was commonly known in Nerima as low earth orbit. Of course, with
her powers she would actually be able to send Kuno there for real, but
fortunately for him, that was not his fate that day. Instead of a trip
to the stratosphere, Kuno was greeted by his goddess' proclamation of
love.
"Moko Takabisha revised: Lecher Blaster!"
A ball of dark red ki five meters in diameter shot at an amazing speed
at Kuno, completely enveloping the unfortunate kendoist before he could
even blink. Once Tatewaki was inside of the ki ball, it imploded upon
itself, resulting in a massive explosion. As the dust picked up by the
blast settled, the only thing still visible on the scorched ground were
Kuno's shoes, miraculously intact. The boy, however, was nowhere in
sight.
"Don't worry, Akane, the blast wasn't designed to kill Kuno, just hurt
him. A lot." Ranma flashed her a winning smile. "I don't think we'll
hear from him anytime soon."
"But where is he, then?"
"Oh, I thought he might need some medical attention afterwards, so I
directed the blast towards the ground. Kuno is currently flying to his
mansion, courtesy of 'Pigtailed Goddess' airlines."
Ranma smirked at the irony, while Akane simply huffed and muttered
something unintelligible about 'baka hentais'.
"Well, that was fun. What do you say we go on our way now?" Ranma
offered over his shoulder, starting to walk away.
Akane grumbled something unintelligible, but followed him anyway. She
was pissed off - at that pervert Kuno for trying to molest Ranma, at the
said jerk for showing off... Akane was also angry with herself for not
reacting sooner. Her reawakened memories insisted that she was Ranma's
shadow, always at his side and practically inseparable from him. But
now, she realized the thing that has pleased her the most was gone.
She was Ranma's guardian, and he usually let her deal with minor threats
and put her in charge of their security, while working from the shadows.
The 'new and improved' Ranma, however, put himself at the front in each
battle, no matter its significance. This Ranma was the master of his
family's martial arts school, and good at the Art. Really good.
There was no need for her anymore. Akane was obsolete. To claim
otherwise would be to delude herself and Ranma, and Akane would be
damned if she lived in a fantasy world!
As she thought of ways to explain all this to Ranma, Akane started
wondering whether she could leave him at all. After all, she was his
guardian angel. Her memories didn't tell her what happened to guardian
who weren't needed anymore.
'Did they go back home, wherever 'home' was? Did they get reassigned?'
Akane gulped. 'Did they die?'
The last thought made Akane understand that this was a decision that
could not be rushed. She hoped that new memories would reawaken to guide
her at her time of need. It always worked for the good guys; all she had
to do was remain optimistic.
The excitement was promptly quelled as Akane realized that she wasn't
sure they were the 'good guys' anymore...
*****
Skuld was on her way to exchange a few words with Urd. Her sister's
talent of getting on her nerves has been somewhat infamous, but this
time she had gone overboard. The Norn of the Past had gone AWOL again,
leaving her desk at the Goddess Relief Office unmanned. This would
usually mean yet another probation for her, but no, this time was
different. This time they had called Skuld, a busy debugger, to do a
desk job! And all because Skuld was her sister and Belldandy was
unavailable at the moment. What a lame excuse! She couldn't be angry
with Belldandy - after all it wasn't her fault, and besides she was too
nice to fight with. The management had already gotten their part. Now it
was Urd's turn, and the thought brought a spring to the young goddess'
steps.
Reaching the door to Urd's apartment, Skuld knocked several times,
getting no answer. Deciding that the idiot probably skipped work to get
drunk, and lay passed out inside, Skuld chose a new approach.
Brandishing her hammer, she tried a few swings before impacting its
business end on the door. Admittedly, knocking down a door in heaven
with a heavy blunt object wasn't one of Skuld's better ideas, but she
was quite mad at Urd, and could almost imagine the look on her sister's
face when she woke up to the racket.
"Rise and shine, Urd!" Skuld yelled at the top of her lungs, upset that
her impressive entrance hadn't drawn a sound from her sister.
The only response was a low moan and some rustling noise.
Skuld suddenly began having second thoughts about her plan. There was,
after all, another possible explanation for Urd's disappearance from
work - her oldest sister wasn't called the Goddess of Love for nothing.
She hoped that she was wrong about this with all her heart, because then
that shameless tramp Urd would never let her live it down.
The Norn of the Future recalled that she was supposed to be very angry
with her sister, and found the courage to pass the threshold, forcefully
purging all of the possible scenarios of Urd's conduct out of her mind.
As she approached the source of the noise, which originated near the TV
set in the room, the sight of her sister sprawled on the floor greeted
Skuld. Urd, sensing her sister more than actually noticing her, began to
mumble something. The smaller goddess knelt down next to her, and before
putting her ear closer warned her sister that it better not be a prank.
"Ranma... Ranma is back..." Urd managed to repeat, before passing out.
* * *
The three Norns were gathered in Urd's apartment, with the owner of said
apartment lying in her bed resting. All of the goddesses wore serious
faces, after Urd has told everyone of her encounter with Ranma and his
guardian.
"So, he didn't hurt you, big sister?" Belldandy queried, having heard
the story.
"What are you talking about, Belldandy?" Skuld exclaimed, not believing
her ears.
"Well, if I understood Urd correctly, it was in fact his guardian who
shot her wasn't it?"
After receiving a confirmation nod from her sister, Belldandy continued.
"In fact, he seemed very intent on stopping any further harm from coming
to Urd. Stopping a berserker and unstable guardian, letting Urd make her
getaway... he even said that he was not going to kill anyone!"
"I can't believe I'm hearing this! This is Ranma we're talking about!"
Skuld took a deep breath, which did nothing to help her reach her
center, in a futile attempt to relax.
"Skuld-chan, he has changed. I know he has!" Belldandy pleaded with her
younger sister.
"You're letting your emotions rule you! I know what's going on!" Skuld
exclaimed, jumping up from the chair she was sitting on. "You still have
feelings for him, don't you?"
Belldandy looked away, and said quietly: "It doesn't matter."
"Look me in the eyes and say that!"
When Belldandy's refused to make eye contact with Skuld, the Norn of the
Future suggested that the matter of how they were going to handle this
situation be put to a vote. With her and the Norn of the Present in
opposite camps, it was Urd with the deciding vote.
Looking apologetically to her sister, she said that Ranma was a threat
and not to be trusted. Urd believed that they should take him out the
next time their paths crossed.
The decision made, and binding all three sisters, Skuld left the room to
work on some new gadgets that would help them locate Ranma's signature.
Belldandy remained seated, not having moved an inch since hearing Urd's
vote. She looked crushed, and neither of her sister's attempts to strike
a conversation were successful. After a few minutes of just sitting and
staring at a point in space, she got up, determination etched on her
face, and walked through the mirror without a word. Left all alone, Urd
sighed and slumped back in her bed. She never wanted it to come to this,
but sometimes you had to choose the lesser evil. And eliminating Ranma
was definitely one of those times. It troubled her that Belldandy took
their decision much harder than she would have thought, but no matter
how much Urd wanted to ease her sister's pain, she couldn't do anything
about it.
Closing her eyes to get some rest, Urd's final thought before she fell
asleep was: 'Damn you, Ranma! Why couldn't you just stay dead...'
*****
"Damn you, Ranma Saotome! This is all your fault!"
It appeared that not only Urd was venting her anger and frustration at a
certain pigtailed martial artist. At that very moment Ryoga Hibiki,
a.k.a. 'P-Chan', was picturing how much the world would be a better
place without the bane of his existence.
'How dare the vile Saotome run away from our duel!' Ryoga fumed, before
realizing what he had just thought. A new thought promptly formed in his
mind and replaced the old one: 'Got to stay away from Kuno, I think what
he's got is contagious.'
His thoughts wondered once again to the latest challenge he had issued
Ranma. The bandanna-clad boy was still furious that his arch-rival would
stoop so low as to use his fiancee as cannon fodder.
'Why, if Akane hadn't caught the umbrella...'
Ryoga was about to wonder how exactly could Akane gather enough strength
not only to stop his umbrella in mid-swing, but shatter it as well, when
it got through to him that Akane could have been hurt. No, make that
Akane should have been hurt from his strike.
Words came rushing in at that moment, fragments of conversations he'd
had over the course of the past year. People warning him that he might
hurt innocents, Ranma's warnings and his own hasty replies. Ryoga
remembered how set he was not to let anything come between him and his
quest for vengeance against Ranma
And what had that quest brought him but pain and misery? He ended up
throwing years of his life and his education away, got cursed to turn
into a black piglet with water, and up until a year ago never stayed at
one place long enough to make any friends. Even now, the only one he
considered a true friend was Akane, and he had been lying to her about
his curse all along.
During his first battle with Ranma at Furinkan High, where Ryoga had met
Akane for the first time, she had been hurt. In spite Ranma's best
efforts to put himself in danger to protect her, she sprained her ankle
avoiding one of his bandannas, and another had accidentally cut her
long, beautiful hair. Had that one been a couple of centimeters to the
side...
Ryoga shuddered. He wasn't a killer, and he certainly didn't want to
hurt a bystander. But something within Ranma provoked such feelings of
hatred in him that he had been barely able to decide on battle strategy,
instead of simply going all out at random. And he was successful... most
of the time.
Besides his arch-rival, the only other person he had feelings so deep
for was Akane. Sure, he loved Akari, but he felt a connection to Akane.
Maybe it was the time he had spent bonding with her as her pet piglet,
P-Chan. Perhaps he had never gotten over her, despite having a
girlfriend who loved him and accepted him for what he was. The matters
of the heart existed under a different set of rules than common sense,
and he could hardly have any control over whom he loved.
Did Akane have to die before he would start noticing his surroundings?
Or Akari, or anyone else he cared about? Did it even matter who
perished?
Ryoga didn't think it mattered. After thinking things through, he was
confident that he could add the blind rage that regularly clouded his
mind during his meetings with the annoying pig-tailed martial artist as
another curse to his ever-growing arsenal. Sure, it was all probably
Ranma's fault, but Ryoga would handle it as the man he was. Otherwise,
he would become exactly the opposite of the man he thought himself. The
man that would be worthy of Akane or Akari.
'It's too bad I can't have them both..." Ryoga mused shortly, before
shaking his head wearily. "Yes, I definitely have been spending too much
time around Kuno..."
*****
It took them a several hours of hiking, but Ranma-chan and Akane had
finally arrived at their desired camping area. Neither had said much
during their train ride from Nerima after their encounter with Kuno,
both of them trying to get to their destination as quickly as possible.
They didn't want to risk being seen by another one of their 'associates'
in Nerima. Fortunately, it seemed that the girls had decided to give
Ranma some time to cool off, but luck was a fickle thing, especially
when it came to the aforementioned martial artist.
"Ok, Akane, why don't you set up our tents why I make dinner?"
"Hey, you jerk! I'm a good cook, you know!"
'Like hell you are!' Ranma thought bitterly, remembering all the times
Akane got 'creative' with her so-called 'food', but went along with it
nonetheless, repeating a silent mantra in his head: 'It's just instant
ramen. Everybody can make it.'
"All right, then you start on our dinner while I set up our equipment."
Akane beamed and started collecting firewood. Seeing her go Ranma
sighed, and continued to work on their camp. She hoped with all her
heart that Akane won't try to 'improvise', or they would die for sure.
Of course, this would save some work for their multiple enemies, but
Ranma intended to give them all a good fight, if nothing else.
Half an hour later the girls sat down near the campfire, each feasting
on a cup of noodles.
"Wow, Akane, they are really good!" Ranma exclaimed between bites.
Akane blushed a bit before responding.
"Well, they were almost ready when I decided to add something and..."
Akane looked strangely at Ranma, who was frozen in mid-motion, a loose
noodle slipping from his chopsticks.
"Hey, Ranma, are you ok?" Akane asked worriedly. After all, she had only
added some salt and paprika for taste. She even, for some reason she
couldn't understand, had tried the food on herself before serving it.
Ranma couldn't believe what her mind was telling her. She ate food that
Akane had improvised with and was still alive. Furthermore, she didn't
even feel the usual aftereffects. After the initial astonishment
resided, Ranma wondered how one improvises with a cup of instant ramen.
She quickly decided that she didn't want to know.
"Um, Akane?" Ranma started saying tentatively.
"Oh, Ranma, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to poison you..."
Akane's words subsided to leave only mumbled speech and tears in their
wake. Ranma, who always had trouble seeing a girl in tears, started
jumping around the place, all the while waving her arms frantically in a
desperate attempt to appease her. Apparently, it worked, as Akane
eventually wiped away her tears and even chuckled at the hysterical
redhead's antics.
"I'm alright now, Ranma," she said to the smaller girl, snatching up her
pigtail to hold her in one place.
"Wha? Oh, right," Ranma rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment,
noticing that Akane was now smiling at her. "Anyway, what I wanted to
say is that the food was great!"
"Really?" Akane asked with shining eyes.
"Umm, yeah."
"I guess it really does help to taste the food while cooking it," Akane
remarked thoughtfully.
"..."
Ranma tried to find a suitable response to that, she really did, but her
mind came up blank.
*****
After Dr. Tofu's announcement, chaos ensued in the Tendo Dojo. Moving
over to the doctor to get more details out of him, Nabiki stayed clear
of the two drunken men, who were dancing and weeping in joy. However,
Nodoka beat the middle Tendo daughter to him.
"Excuse me, Dr. Tofu, but is it true that Ranma and Akane are going away
together, just the two of them?" the proud mother asked, beaming at the
thought of her manly son.
When he nodded, Nodoka left Dr. Tofu be, and went to the kitchen to help
with the dinner. Nabiki, seeing her chance at finding out some juicy
gossip, saw her chance and seized it.
"Say, Doctor, would you happen to know where they went?" she asked,
taking out a notebook.
Before Nabiki could produce a pen, Kasumi came out of the kitchen, and
asked Dr. Tofu if he would like to stay for dinner, smiling at him
pleasantly.
"Oh, Kasumi, fancy meeting you here!" he exclaimed, grabbing Nabiki's
notebook and shredding it mercilessly to little pieces. "How nice of you
to stop by!"
By the time he had finished the last sentence, Dr. Tofu's glasses had
completely fogged up, and he was laughing, all the while scratching the
back of his head. Nabiki knew better than to stick around him, while the
doctor was in that state, and edged away in the meanwhile.
"Dr. Tofu, you're so funny!" Kasumi giggled. "Would you like a cookie
while you wait for dinner?" she said, holding out a tray of freshly
baked pastry to him.
While all this was taking place, three additional sets of ears were
picking up the bits and pieces of conversation from the Tendo Dojo.
Although it wasn't a simple task, each of the uninvited guests managed
to get the gist of it. None of them believed that idiotic excuse about a
training trip, Ranma might as well have said that he wanted Akane there
for her cooking. No, something was going, and it revolved around
Nerima's number one martial artist.
The onlookers quickly made their departure, careful not to blow their
cover. There were a lot of preparations ahead...